Re: [RFC PATCH 08/19] cpufreq: fix warning for cpufreq_init_policy unlocked access to cpufreq_governor_list

From: Juri Lelli
Date: Thu Jan 14 2016 - 11:34:56 EST


On 13/01/16 11:37, Viresh Kumar wrote:
> On 12-01-16, 15:52, Juri Lelli wrote:
> > Other users (i.e., cpufreq_parse_governor and cpufreq_register_governor)
> > needs to take the mutex externally. So, we need to unify this behaviour.
>
> No they don't have to.
>
> And that's why I have been saying that we better nail down the exact
> thing the mutex is supposed to protect.
>
> There can be two cases here:
> - It protects the governor list, in that case we can move it to
> find_governor().
> - It guarantees that the governor pointer stays valid: That's not true
> as we are using the governor pointer outside of the lock.
>
> And so I said, "No they don't have to" :)
>

But, don't we have to guarantee consinstency between multiple operations
on cpufreq_governor_list?

In cpufreq_register_governor() we have:

mutex_lock(&cpufreq_governor_mutex);

governor->initialized = 0;
err = -EBUSY;
if (!find_governor(governor->name)) {
err = 0;
list_add(&governor->governor_list, &cpufreq_governor_list);
}

mutex_unlock(&cpufreq_governor_mutex);

IIUC, find_governor and list_add have to be atomic. Couldn't someone
slip in right after find_governor and add the same governor to the list?

Thanks,

- Juri